[Gutenberg 44295] • Candy Medication

THE IDEA of presenting medicine in candy form is really very old. The term confection, which originally meant a medicinal compound being derived from the Latin word "conficere," to put together, has been applied since the days of classical antiquity to mixtures of medicinal substances with saccharine matter. The only official relics of this once very extensive class of preparations are the confection of rose and the confection of senna; both of which, however, are also practically obsolete. The reason for this is not difficult to find. Neither of them come up to our modern ideas of a confection. We may officially call them a confection, but a youngster would be disrespectful enough to disagree with the pharmacopoeia.